1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication device and in particular to a telephone or facsimile machine that is provided with a plurality of telecommunication units and that uses a telephone circuit as a transmission pathway.
2. Description of Related Art
Telephones, facsimile machines, and other communication devices that use telephone lines as a transmission pathway have recently been provided with a plurality of telecommunication units, that is, a main telephone connected directly to the telephone line, and one or more sub-telephones of cordless type that is capable of performing wireless communication with the main telephone.
Whenever the main telephone receives a ringing signal from a remote device over the telephone line, the main telephone transmits the ringing signal to all the sub-telephones. Accordingly, the main telephone and all the sub-telephones ring accordingly. A telephone connection is made when one of the main telephone or sub-telephones is brought into an off-hook condition.
The main telephone and each of the sub-telephones of such a system can be installed in separate rooms. In this case, when a caller calls the system, all of the system telephones (i.e., the main telephone and the sub-telephones) ring. Someone near one of the telephones answers the call and asks the caller whom he or she wishes to speak to. If the caller wishes to speak to the user, then the caller and the user can have a conversation. However, if the caller wishes to speak to someone besides the user, then the user goes to fetch the desired party or transfers the call to another one of the system telephones.
When each of the system telephones is installed in a different room, the user of a particular telephone is usually the person most often in the room. For example, when a telephone system is installed in a family home, then the son will usually answer the telephone installed in the son""s room. When a telephone system is installed in an office environment, then the manager will usually answer the telephone installed in the manager""s office.
If a caller could designate which system telephone to ring, then by ringing the system telephone installed in the room of the desired party, the caller would have a good chance that the desired party would answer the call, so that the caller could immediately start a conversation with the desired party. However, since all system telephones ring as described above, it is more likely that someone other than the desired party will answer the call. Therefore, the caller will have to wait while the user goes to fetch the person whom the caller has wished to speak to or else transfers the call to the appropriate system telephone.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to overcome the above-described problems and to provide an improved communication device that enables the caller to easily call a desired telephone and accurately call a person he or she wishes to speak to.
In order to attain the above and other objects, the present invention provides a communication device, comprising: a plurality of telecommunication units; selection information transmission means for transmitting selection information to a caller via a communication circuit after the communication circuit is connected, the selection information being for urging the caller to verbally input information indicative of his/her desired telecommunication unit; voice recognition means for recognizing the caller""s verbally-inputted information; and selection calling means for selecting at least one telecommunication unit based on the recognized result and for transmitting a ringing signal to the selected telecommunication unit.
With the above-described structure, the caller can receive the selection information that urges the caller to select his/her desired telecommunication unit. The caller can verbally input information indicating his/her desired telecommunication unit. The verbally-inputted information is recognized by the voice recognizing means. The selection calling means transmits a ringing signal to the telecommunication unit that is selected based on the recognized result. The caller can therefore call only the telecommunication unit, with which the caller desires to communicate. Because the caller can verbally select his/her desired telecommunication unit, any caller can call his/her desired telecommunication unit reliably without performing any complicated operations. Because the caller can call his/her desired telecommunication unit only, it is possible to prevent persons other than a person, with whom the caller wishes to communicate, from answering the caller""s call.
The selection information transmission means may be prevented from performing its operation until the predetermined number of ringing signals are received via the communication circuit. With this structure, a predetermined telecommunication unit may be rung until the predetermined number of ringing signals are received. When no answer is inputted at the predetermined telecommunication unit, an optional telecommunication unit will be selected by the caller next to ring. Thus, the predetermined telecommunication unit can be rung before the caller""s selected telecommunication unit is selected to ring.
When the caller fails to verbally input information as recognizable by the communication device, a ringing signal may be transmitted to either one of a predetermined telecommunication unit and all the telecommunication units so that the predetermined telecommunication unit or all the telecommunication units will ring. Accordingly, at least some person at the receiving side can answer the call and communicate with the caller.
When no answer is inputted to the selected telecommunication unit by the time the predetermined number of ringing signals are transmitted thereto, a ringing signal may be transmitted to either one of a predetermined telecommunication unit and all the telecommunication units so that the predetermined telecommunication unit or all the telecommunication units will ring. Accordingly, at least some person at the receiving side can answer the call at some telecommunication unit.
At least one telecommunication unit, to which a ringing signal is to be transmitted when the caller""s verbally-inputted information is not recognized, may be previously designated. The receiving side is thus prepared to reliably receive calls from callers. The communication device can perform operation suitable for the user""s actual using state.
At least one telecommunication unit, to which a ringing signal is to be transmitted when no answer is inputted at the selected telecommunication unit by the time the predetermined number of ringing signal is transmitted, may be previously designated. The receiving side is thus prepared to reliably receive calls from callers. The communication device can perform operation suitable for the user""s actual using state.
When the caller""s verbally-inputted information is not recognized, the selection information transmission can be repeatedly performed until the verbally-inputted information will be successfully recognized. The caller can reliably select his/her desired telecommunication unit. Because the caller is informed that his/her verbally-inputted information is not recognizable, the caller can be warned to is try inputting his/her voice in a state more recognizable.
When no answer is inputted by the time the predetermined number of ringing signals is transmitted to the caller""s selected telecommunication unit, the caller""s desired specific process may be selected out of a plurality of subsequent processes to be executed. Accordingly, a process appropriate for the present situation can be achieved.
When no answer is inputted by the time the ringing signal is transmitted to the caller""s selected telecommunication unit the predetermined times, another telecommunication unit desired to be rung next may be optionally selected, and a ringing signal be transmitted to the other telecommunication unit. Even when the person, with whom the caller desires to communicate most, is not available, the caller can optionally select another person, with whom the caller desires to communicate next, and can call that person.
When no answer is inputted by the time the ringing signal is transmitted to the caller""s selected telecommunication unit the predetermined number of times, all the telecommunication units may be called next. At least some person at the receiving side can answer the call at some telecommunication unit.
When no answer is inputted by the time the predetermined number of ringing signal is transmitted to the caller""s selected telecommunication unit, the caller can record his/her voice message to a voice storage area allocated for the selected telecommunication unit. A user that generally uses the selected telecommunication unit will thereafter reproduce the recorded message, thereby knowing the caller""s message content.
Predetermined information may be transmitted to a previously-designated external communication device after the predetermined number of ringing signal is transmitted to the selected telecommunication unit. Even when a user that generally uses the selected telecommunication unit can not presently answer the call at the present communication device, the user will reliably know by the external communication device that a call has been transmitted from the caller. The user can immediately communicate with the caller if necessary.
When each telecommunication unit can output a plurality of different ringing sounds, data of the plurality of ringing patterns may be prestored in correspondence with a plurality of recognition patterns. When the caller verbally inputs information recognizable by the voice recognizing means as a recognition pattern, a ringing signal, indicative of a ringing sound corresponding to the recognition pattern, may be transmitted to the selected is telecommunication unit so that the ringing sound corresponding to the recognition pattern will be sounded at the selected telecommunication unit. When listening the ringing sound rung at the selected telecommunication unit, the user can speculate who is the caller according to the sounded ringing. This is convenient for the user.
The plurality of telecommunication units may include: a main telecommunication unit that is connected to the communication circuit, the selection information transmission means connecting the communication circuit before transmitting the selection information to the caller via the communication circuit; and at least one subsidiary telecommunication unit that can communicate with the main telephone.